Blast Kills Dozens in Pakistan
Saturday, September 20, 2008, 06:35 PM - Eurasia
A massive suicide truck bomb ripped through a luxury hotel in the Pakistani capital Saturday night, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 250 as the building was engulfed in flames, officials said.
Witnesses and officials said the bomber drove up to one side of the heavily guarded hotel and detonated more than a ton of explosives, leaving a 30-foot-deep crater.
Television footage of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, located just blocks from major government buildings, showed smoke billowing and flames leaping from windows as bloodied survivors staggered out of the lobby.
Police said that many people had been trapped inside and that the death toll would probably rise. Officials said some of the victims were foreigners, including at least one American. Marriott said in a statement that several hotel security guards who had gone out to examine the truck were among the dead.
The bombing occurred just hours after the new president of this nation of 160 million delivered his first speech to Parliament and vowed to free Pakistan from the "shackles of terrorism." - See Blast Kills Dozens in Pakistan for the complete report and images.
add comment Pakistan kills 100 as tension with U.S. grows
Thursday, September 11, 2008, 02:10 PM - Eurasia
Pakistani forces killed up to 100 al Qaeda-linked militants in fierce clashes near the Afghan border on Thursday, a security official said, as tensions grew with the United States over how to tackle militancy.
An intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan has piled pressure on Pakistan to go after militants operating from sanctuaries in remote enclaves on its side of the border. It has also led to a sharp increase in U.S. strikes on militants in Pakistan.
The new government in Islamabad says it is committed to the campaign against militancy, launched after the September 11 attacks seven years ago, but bans incursions by U.S. troops.
In the latest fighting in the northwestern Bajaur region, where some analysts believe top al Qaeda leaders have been hiding, the security forces fought pitched battles with the militants loyal to a local commander Qari Zia-ur-Rehman. - See Pakistan kills 100 as tension with U.S. grows for the full report.
Zardari, Karzai Pledge New Era of Cooperation
Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 01:06 PM - Eurasia
Asif Ali Zardari was sworn in as Pakistan's president Tuesday, and within hours he appeared with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, pledging to work with him to resolve long-standing tensions between their countries and fight the rising Taliban insurgency on both sides of their border.
In a departure from past rancor between the two governments, the leaders spoke of a new era of cooperation, but they offered scant details about how to accomplish it. They also suggested they would stand up to the United States at a time of widespread public anger in both countries over civilian casualties in U.S. strikes.
Seated side by side beneath gold-framed portraits of Zardari's slain wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the two presidents struck a relaxed pose as they faced hundreds of reporters at the Pakistani president's residence.
Karzai, in his trademark Afghan cape and black Karakul hat, avoided the sharp words he has used in recent months over Pakistan's failure to rein in the Taliban insurgency in areas near the Afghan border. Zardari, leaning forward eagerly in a dark-blue two-piece suit, said cooperation between the two countries is crucial for success in the war against Islamist extremists on both sides of the border. Insurgents control a large portion of the 1,500-mile border, effectively rendering the region largely inaccessible to Pakistani or Afghan troops. - See Zardari, Karzai Pledge New Era of Cooperation for the full report.
Pakistan Tribal Sources Say Foreign Al-Qaida Operatives Killed in Missile Strike
Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 12:51 PM - Eurasia
Tribal leaders with links to militant groups say the four Arab men known as Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris were killed near a home and seminary of a Taliban militant leader with ties to al-Qaida.
Pakistani intelligence officials say the man known as Abu Haris was an Egyptian in his 50s who has been living in Pakistan for at least two decades. They said after last year's deadly government raid on Islamabad's Red Mosque, he became the top al-Qaida logistics coordinator in the North West Frontier Province. Intelligence officials say the man known as Abu Hamza was a supplier of improvised explosive devices.
U.S. officials have not confirmed carrying out the alleged missile strike and the Pakistani military continues to refer to the incident as "explosions" from unknown causes.
Since late August there have been at least five reported missile strikes against militant targets in North and South Waziristan. Afghan, U.S. and NATO officials say the regions act as Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries and have urged Pakistan to eliminate them. - See Pakistan Tribal Sources Say Foreign Al-Qaida Operatives Killed in Missile Strike for the full report.
Taliban Breached NATO Base in Deadly Clash
Monday, July 14, 2008, 05:43 PM - Eurasia
The Taliban insurgents who attacked a remote American-run outpost near the Pakistan border on Sunday numbered nearly 200 fighters, almost three times the size of the allied force, and some breached the NATO compound in a coordinated assault that took the defenders by surprise, Western officials said Monday.
The attackers were driven back in a pitched four-hour battle, and appeared to suffer scores of dead and wounded of their own, but the toll they inflicted was sobering. The base and a nearby observation post were manned by just 45 American troops and 25 Afghan soldiers, two senior allied officials said, asking for anonymity while an investigation is under way.
With 9 Americans dead and at least 15 injured, that means that one in five of the American defenders was killed and nearly half the remainder were wounded. Four Afghan soldiers were also injured.
American and Afghan forces started building the makeshift base just last week and its defenses were not fully in place, said one senior allied official. In some places, troops were using their vehicles as barriers against insurgents.
The militants apparently detected the vulnerability and moved quickly to exploit it in a pre-dawn assault in which they attacked from two directions, American officials said.
It was the first time insurgents had partly breached any of the three dozen outposts that American and Afghan forces operate jointly across the country, according to a Western official who insisted on anonymity in providing details of the operation. - See Taliban Breached NATO Base in Deadly Clash for the complete report.
India's Kabul Embassy Hit By Suicide Car Bomb; 30 Die
Monday, July 7, 2008, 11:24 PM - Eurasia
A suicide car bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, killed at least 30 people and injured 141 today, a government spokesman said. More than 40 people died, Agence France-Presse reported.
``Of the injured, 90 have been hospitalized,'' Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said in a telephone interview from Kabul. ``The rest of them have minor injuries. Police have also recovered a half-blown body which may be the suicide bomber.''
The bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the gates of the embassy, AFP reported. Indian defense attaché Brigadier R. Mehta and Counsellor V. Venkateswara Rao died in the attack, Sitanshu Kar, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said in a telephone interview from New Delhi. Two soldiers guarding the embassy also died, Jasbir Singh, first secretary, said in a telephone interview from Kabul.
The White House condemned the bombing and offered condolences to the injured and families of victims. ``Extremists continue to show their disregard for all human life and their willingness to kill fellow Muslims as well as others,'' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in an e-mailed statement. ``The U.S. stands with the people of Afghanistan and India, as we face this common enemy.''
The highest profile attack in the Afghan capital this year came on April 27 when militants opened fire on President Hamid Karzai as he was about to address an annual military parade. An Afghan lawmaker and two civilians were killed in the assault. - See India's Kabul Embassy Hit By Suicide Car Bomb; 30 Die for the full report.
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